


What Breaks (and What Doesn't)

by ShootToKrill



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Complete, Electromagnet - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, JNPR Berries, M/M, Martial Arcs, Multi, Poly JNPR - Freeform, Polyamory, Renora, Romance, arkos, internalised biphobia, toxic masculinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 16:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9332720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShootToKrill/pseuds/ShootToKrill
Summary: There had to be a downside to falling in love with all three of your teammates. Jaune is about to discover it.





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any characters, I just ship them. Hard.  
Also the title of this fic is taken from a song by the awesome Lauren O'Connell, go check it out.

* * *

Jaune would be the first to remind everyone that as _usual_ it was Nora who started it.

The four lovers are relaxing in their room after an especially taxing sparring session. The girls are nestled together against the headboard, braiding one another's still-damp hair between kisses. Ren is showering, and Jaune lies sprawled on their bed with a comic.

His gaze flickers up from the page to sneak a glance at his two girlfriends, once, then twice, before Pyrrha catches his eye and holds her arms out with a warm smile.

“Thought you'd never ask,” he mumbles.

“C'mere, you,” says Nora, as Jaune puts down the comic and scoots over to them. Pyrrha plants a sweet, lingering kiss on his lips as he lays his head in the smaller girl's lap.

“Jaune, is everything… okay?”

He rolls his eyes, Nora's fingers already busy teasing his hair into tiny pigtails.

“Pyrrha, look at me. I cheated my way into Beacon and somehow I'm still taking all three of my teammates to bed every night.”

“That's not what I meant and you know it. You seem tense, and you've been distant - especially with Ren.”

Nora feels Jaune's shoulders tense at their girlfriend's words. She reaches for each of their hands, but while Pyrrha gives a reassuring squeeze, Jaune brushes her away.

“Have not.”

“Jaune,” wheedles Pyrrha, gently, knowing neither of her boyfriends is naturally open when it comes to matters of the heart, “you've been acting strangely around Ren, and as a result, he's pulling away so he doesn't come across as needy. Nora and I have both noticed it and it's not healthy for you to be bottling things up.”

Jaune sits up, jaw set.

“I am not bottling things up”, he insists. “I love Ren, just like I love you two. I… just show it differently.”

“Yeah, like, not at all”, blurts Nora, before covering her mouth in shock at her own audacity. But home truths, unlike hiccoughs, are not easy to excuse.

Jaune turns to face her, cross-legged on the bed.

“ _What_?”

“You never show Ren any affection – like, ever! Sure, you make out and stuff when he initiates it, but you've got no problem holding Pyrrha's hand or mine and kissing and cuddling with us and Ren just gets left out. He's super quiet, and I'm used to it, but now he's like _quiet_ -quiet and I think it's 'cause you always hold him at arm's length and if it was me I'd be worrying that there was a problem, so… What's up with that?” Nora finally pauses for breath, looking a mutely mutinous Jaune in the eye.

The tension is heavy in the air, the proverbial calm before the storm. Pyrrha's throat tightens and her eyes begin to burn.

Ren exits the bathroom, towel-clad, to a tableau of awkwardness between his partners.

“...Did I miss something?”


	2. Chapter 2

“What,” Jaune begins slowly, “the _hell_ did you just say?”

Pyrrha's free hand finds Jaune's shoulder as her pleading gaze meets an incredulous Ren's.

“Please, Jaune, let's - ”

“'Cause it kinda sounded like you were accusing me of not caring about Ren.”

Nora wriggles her hand from Pyrrha's to fold her arms. Her chin juts out, the very picture of defiance, and Ren's heart sinks. Once Nora had made up her mind to see a point home, it was impossible to dissuade her - whatever the consequences.

“Maybe I was, a little,” Nora counters, “'cause you sure don't act like a caring boyfriend to him. The way you act nobody would ever know you were _together_ -together-”

“Oh, and that's a problem? Maybe I like to keep my private life private instead of being so needy when we're out in public”.

Ren winces at the other boy's harsh words as Nora's eyes narrow.

Jaune's cheeks are flushed with anger as he gets up, impatiently shrugging off the hand on his shoulder, not able to stand being so close to Nora. He hears a shaky intake of breath from behind him and wheels round, equal parts furious and guilty as he sees tears clinging to Pyrrha's lashes.

“This is my fault, I shouldn't have said anything, I'm so sorry...”

“Now look what you've done!” he exclaims, voice rising over the sound of his partner's apologies.

Nora rises from the bed to stand almost nose to nose with Jaune – close enough to kiss, were the circumstances wildly different. The atmosphere is, quite literally, electric; as Nora's temper begins to charge her Semblance.

“This is your fault! It shouldn't be up to Pyrrha or me to have to force you to talk about why you've been acting weird.”

“You have no right to criticise me! You are clingy and dependent and have no idea what a normal relationship looks like!”

Jaune can feel static emanating from her as he balls his shaking hands into fists. He is scared, wants to back down, wants them both to kiss Pyrrha and fall asleep in Ren's arms and pretend this fight was a bad dream.

But he's in too deep, and a tiny part of him – the selfish part he tries his best to keep in check - just cannot let Nora be right.

“Don't you dare make this about me, Jaune! I'm not the one who flinches when Ren tries to hold my hand -”

“Nora.”

“ - and I'd never expect you to get your head out of your ass long enough to notice but it hurts him - “

“ _Nora_.”

“ - and I don't know what your deal is but there are _four_ people in this relationship, Jaune, and we all agreed that we would talk about our problems and now we have to yell about them instead 'cause of you being such a - a child!”

“Nora, _enough_.”


	3. Chapter 3

Ren's voice is low, every syllable loaded with a quiet rage even more palpable than Nora's electrical charge. In three swift strides he crosses the room to Pyrrha's side, not dignifying the other two with so much as a glance.

Her whole body slumps as he pulls her in close, planting a delicate kiss to the crown of her head as he wraps his arms around her shoulders. Combat, not conflict, is Pyrrha's strong suit. She could never abide voices raised in anger, and Ren's quiet tenderness on the heels of their partners' ugly shouting match is like salve on a burn. Her remaining composure crumbles, and she bursts into tears.

Nora glares at Jaune before making a move towards their partners, but Ren raises a hand in silent warning and she stops dead. Her electrical charge is dissipating, her flared temper shifting into a queasy feeling of remorse.

Jaune forces himself to take a slow, deep breath; steadying himself against the receding tide of his anger. “Ren, I - ”

His boyfriend finally meets his eyes, but the look he receives could send Grimm running for the hills.

“Enough.”

His tone is arctic. Jaune drops his head in shame.

Nora fidgets uneasily beside him, pulling at her gloves. She'd never been fond of silence, but a silence broken only by the sound of their girlfriend crying was _so_ much worse.

Slowly, with Ren's hand rubbing reassuring circles on the small of her back, Pyrrha calms down. She looks a mess when she finally lifts her head, and his chest is wet with her tears, but as she shyly meets his eyes, Ren can only think of what a privilege her trust is. He raises an eyebrow, and she nods in wordless reassurance.

With one more gentle kiss to Pyrrha's forehead, Ren turns to look up at their two partners. Jaune and Nora share a glance, all earlier ferocity quelled before a gaze packing more steel than the Beacon armory.

“Talk.”

Nobody else, Nora considers, has as much potential to intimidate in so few syllables - while wearing a towel, no less.

“I… ”

Pyrrha watches on, dreading another escalation. Without looking away from their girlfriend, Ren's hand finds hers and gives the gentlest of squeezes. The hot ball of anxiety in her chest unravels, just a little.

“I just… wanted to figure out what was up with you and Jaune,” Nora manages meekly. “I shouldn't have yelled. Pyrrha, I didn't mean to upset you - really, I didn't. I'm sorry.”

Ren maintains his silence but gives her a tiny nod, and Nora allows herself a sigh of relief. She can't stand having Ren mad at her, and Pyrrha's red-rimmed eyes are a sight to move the hardest heart.

She reaches out to her girlfriend; a hesitant, supplicating gesture. After a glance to Ren, the taller girl opens her arms, and Nora launches herself into them, breathlessly whispering apologies into her cleavage, almost frantic in her need to reassure and be reassured. Pyrrha strokes her hair soothingly, until Nora tilts her face up for a kiss that tastes like butterscotch and batteries.

Ren's eyes remain fixed on Jaune as Nora settles on the bed beside Pyrrha. The silence stretches, taut as a rubber band, as the taller boy awkwardly scuffs his sneaker against the carpet. Finally, Ren speaks.

“Nora was right. You have been acting strange.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

Jaune's voice is petulant, even to his own ears, but he hates this, all three of his partners sat interrogating him about _nothing._ He feels like a bug with its wings pinned, squirming under their scrutiny.

“You seem much less comfortable being affectionate with me than you do with Pyrrha and Nora. We need to talk about why, and what it means for us.”

Ren's tone is quietly commanding, but Pyrrha and Nora are close enough to see him swallow hard after he speaks. Jaune finally looks up, scowling.

“You're making something out of nothing – all of you. Maybe I'm not as _touchy-feely_ as Nora, but you know I care. Right?”

Ren's expression is fixed, but he isn't quick enough to mask the hurt in his eyes at the glib question.

“...How?”


	4. Chapter 4

"...How?"

The single, plaintive word hangs in the air like smog. Astonished and exasperated, Jaune throws up his hands.

“We're dating, aren't we? I wouldn't be with you if I didn't - ”

“I asked _how_. It's like Nora said earlier, although... the delivery needed work." At this, Nora blushes and nuzzles Pyrrha's shoulder by way of apology. "There are four people in this relationship. How do I know you care about me the way I care about all three of you, when you continue to treat me differently?”

“I – I don't know what you're asking!” Jaune splutters. “I love you, I've told you hundreds of times.”

“Then why don't you _show_ it? Why can Nora sit on your lap in the cafeteria when you won't even take my hand? Why can you kiss Pyrrha in the hallway, but pull away from me?” Ren's tone remains carefully even, but his words are gathering pace, the barest trace of bitterness edging his words as pent-up frustration begins to spill out.

“I do not - ”

“Jaune,” Pyrrha interjects, as softly as she knows how, with a frightened glance from one boy to the other. “You do. Nobody's saying you don't love Ren, but you're much more relaxed with your affection towards Nora and me. We just want to understand - ”

“You _don't_ understand!” Jaune is shaking now, shaking with anger and fear and the feeling of having been cornered. He hates this, hates their questions, half-wishes he could hate _them_ just so that there was some satisfaction to be had from screaming at all three of them.

But there isn't. Pyrrha flinches as he lashes out. He wants to comfort her - wants someone to comfort _him -_ but there they all are together, his teammates, his partners, a united front as they nitpick and criticise him.

Nora slips an arm around their girlfriend with a baleful look in his direction.

“Don't you yell at her!”

“ _Shut up_!” Jaune is seething now as he snaps at Nora, words tumbling into one another as he begins to pace.

“None of you get it! I – this is new, okay? I'd never even dated _girls_ before I came here, and now – like, what, do I just call my parents and tell them 'weather's great, oh and also Beacon turned your _only son_ gay'? I've only just got Cardin off my back, but you want him to see us making out and start going after Ren, too?”

He pauses for breath, nostrils flaring, staring across the room at his boyfriend.

“Just 'cause people _know_ doesn't mean they need reminding, and saying people will 'probably be fine about it' isn't enough for me! I could never forgive myself if something happened to you - and you're asking whether I _care_?”

“No.” Ren's inscrutable expression is let down by the tightness of his jaw and a vein jumping in his temple. “I'm asking myself how I found myself with a boyfriend so unwilling to adress his issues that he'd rather let me feel unwanted.”

“Wh - ”

“You agreed, as did we all, that we were equal in our relationship. It's a funny sort of 'equal' that allows you to prioritise your _reputation_ over my feelings.”

“I d - ”

“You were right, though - I don't 'get' what it's like to be worried about how my parents might react.”

The ensuing silence is excruciating. Jaune has stopped in his tracks to gape at Ren, horrified.

“I didn't think - ”

“No. Clearly, you didn't think.” Ren stands; and though they're only inches apart in height, the anger blazing in his boyfriend's eyes is enough for Jaune to shrink back where he stands. “But now you need to think – hard – about your priorities, and about how you've acted today. We've talked enough.”

“Ren, please, I - ” Jaune pleads.

“I don't want to hear any more excuses,” Ren spits, stalking back to the bathroom and slamming the door.

* * *

 Since toddlerhood, Nora has sworn she would break the legs of anyone who hurt Ren. At this moment, she thinks Jaune would prefer a broken femur or two to their boyfriend's rare fury. In all the time they've known one another, she can count on one hand the number of times she's seen him lose control like this.

Jaune's doesn't dare speak, can't quite believe that ten minutes ago he was reading X-Ray and Vav while his girlfriends cuddled, as opposed to this corrosive silence. Helpless, he turns back towards the bed, to the only person who might know Ren well enough to help him out of this mess.

“Nora - ” he begs, weakly.

“No. Ren's right. We've talked plenty.” And to Jaune's surprise it's Pyrrha who answers, her voice thick. “I know you're hurting, but this is your fight, n-not ours. I can't stand by while you lash out at us b-because you think you're above our help, or that we can't understand. I risk my career every time Nora and I are seen out in public together, and it… it's worth it.”

Nora pulls her closer, with a stricken look to Jaune over the taller girl's head.

Jaune looks despairingly between his girlfriends and the closed bathroom door, as if an easy way to right his wrongs will materialise in front of him. His brain is buzzing like a hive of rapier wasps, and the molten shame flooding his chest leaves him feeling sick and shaky.

Suddenly, as his lip begins to tremble, he can't stand to be in their room a minute longer.

He bolts from the room before Ren finishes dresssing.


	5. Chapter 5

He's cold.

Since the beginning of their relationship, and the unsurprising revelation that single beds were not designed for four, Team JNPR have slept en masse. The team's bed – in reality, their four twin beds pushed together – takes up the majority of their dorm room and is without a doubt Jaune's favourite place in all of Remnant.

He's never quite sure whether it's the bed itself or the company that makes their sleeping arrangement so cosy, but there's no better way to fall asleep than in a heap with his partners, listening to each of them begin to drift off. To Jaune, there could be no sweeter lullaby than the medley of Nora's mumbling, Ren's steady breathing, and Pyrrha's soft snoring (a fact she flatly denied whenever they brought it up).

When he'd returned to the dorm room that evening, however, one of their twin beds had been pushed back to its original position, and his heart sank.

“You're serious?” he'd enquired of Nora, who averted her gaze, worrying her lower lip as she muttered feebly that they 'just needed space'.

And space was what they had, with Jaune now lying in his bed across the room from theirs.

He's wide awake, drained and miserable; and without his partners' body heat, he's cold.

He bundles the comforter over his toes, trying to keep from shivering. He'd gone to bed almost immediately after getting back from the rooftop, where he'd fled after his earlier outburst – there didn't seem to be much point staying up, with none of his partners willing to speak to him.

Ren had looked straight through him when their paths crossed. Nora could barely meet his gaze, while Pyrrha had given him nothing more than a heartbroken look as he sullenly readied himself to sleep. When he'd seen her eyes well up, the urge to comfort her had been intrusive as an itch.

But they needed space, so Jaune had lain still, suspended in misery and quite alone on the wrong side of the room.

He checks his Scroll for what felt like the thousandth time that night. 2:51am. He curses inwardly, jamming the device back beneath the pillow as he turns to face the wall. He feels drained, yet despite tiredness making his eyes ache, sleep continues to elude him.

If he was in their bed, he'd be holding Pyrrha. He liked playing with her hair as she fell asleep, knowing it relaxed her, running his fingers carefully through her long locks. As she dozed, usually just before she began to snore, she always snuggled into him at just the perfect height for him to plant drowsy kisses along her hairline.

He'd have the warm weight of Nora against his back – she insisted on being the big spoon more often than not, despite being smaller than her partners, and Ren teasingly called her their little sloth due to her habit of clinging to whichever partner was nearest while she slept. She was a fidgeter as well as a sleeptalker, energetic even as she slept.

Ren usually slept almost perfectly still on his back, brows or mouth occasionally twitching as he dreamed. Whenever he fell asleep with his head on Ren's chest, Jaune timed his breaths to the steady beat of his heart. Utterly content, he simply lay there basking in the sweet, marshy, indescribable smell of _him_ until he drifted off. If his boyfriend rose before him, Jaune could – as he had done more than once before - press his face to Ren's imprint on the pillow, just to enjoy the scent of him a little while longer before their day began.

 _If_ he was in their bed. Which he isn't. And it was all his fault.

And Dust, he misses them. They're only across the room and he already _misses_ them.


	6. Chapter 6

The minutes tick by.

The hollow ache in Jaune's chest becomes overwhelming, and his eyes no longer ache but sting. He grits his teeth, a numb coil of shame tightening his throat as he sucks in air, the wall blurring before him.

Jaune curls up, presses his knuckles to his eyes as a guttural noise escapes him. Another follows, and try as he might he can't quite manage to swallow them back down, and then he's really crying, no matter how he fights it.

He buries his face in the crook of his arm in an effort to stifle his sobbing, but it won't stop, he can't make it stop, so he gives in to it. All his fears for the future, his frustrations and uncertainties spill hot and unchecked from between his fingers, running down his cheeks and into his hair.

The creak of bedsprings and a familiar hand on his shoulder nearly succeed in shocking him out of bed. He scrubs furiously at his face with a corner of the coverlet, a futile effort to hide his tears, before turning round as if scalded.

Ren's face remains hidden by shadow, but the smooth curve of his bare shoulders is backlit by the broken moon. The light creeps in through a gap in the drapes, catching on his tangled hair, the magenta streak seeming to glow.

And as Jaune looks up at him, the fear that's been gnawing at him all day – fear the damage he's done is irreparable; giving way to torturous images of their relationship continuing without one of them – consumes him.

He crumples like a soda can; whole body wracked with convulsive, gasping sobs. His inner demons find their voice, tormenting him in his father's most disapproving tone:  _men don't cry_.

Jaune is disgusted with himself, expecting the other Hunstman-in-training to walk away as he had done earlier.

Yet Ren stays, wiping Jaune's tearstained cheeks with his thumb, and his hand on his shoulder feels like the only thing that could possibly ground him, and he can smell that strange floral musk that's so intrinsically _him_ , all of which only make him cry harder.

He _needs_ Ren, just as much as he does Pyrrha and Nora. Perhaps, sometimes, even more so. At this realisation, the stupidity of having kept the other boy at arm's length for such trivial macho reasons catches him like a boot in the gut.

“Ren, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,” he chokes out, apologising for everything all at once – their fight, his distance, his tactlessness, his breaking down in front of him like this. “I never meant - ”

“Enough”. Ren sounds exhausted, and Jaune isn't sure whether he's imagining the waver in his words. “Come to bed. The girls can't sleep, either.”

“I - ”

“I'm still very angry about how you behaved, but not at _you_. We still need to talk - there's a lot you and I need to discuss.” Ren sighs. “But... I know you're sorry. And some things are best worked on together,” he adds in a murmur, as he finally clears the space between them to scoop Jaune into a hug. “You know - as a team.”

Jaune manages a watery half-smile. It occurs to him as he melts into the other boy that Ren is the first of his partners to see him cry.

They stay there for several long minutes, both breathing shakily, until Jaune feels composed enough to take Ren's hand and follow him across the room.

Nora and Pyrrha are still awake. Two pairs of arms seek Jaune out and guide him towards them as soon as Ren pulls back the covers. The relief in Nora's eyes as Ren kisses each of their foreheads - his personal bedtime ritual - makes Jaune want to weep all over again.

Pyrrha curls up against him, his fingers already weaving their way through her hair and caressing the sensitive nape of her neck. Nora's arms are wrapped around Pyrrha from behind, anchoring her, as she dots butterfly kisses along Jaune's damp cheeks. And Ren is finally able to breathe easy, all three of his partners safely back in their bed, the girls tucked under his arm while Jaune sniffles against his chest.

 _It's been quite a day,_ he thinks, watching with a rush of affection for them all as Nora yawns into Pyrrha's shoulder. _And tomorrow is shaping up to be a long day, too._ But they'll face it, together, whatever the future may bring.

Jaune is surrounded once more by the familiar sounds of his partners settling for the night, and has never been more grateful for it. He finds Ren's hand in the darkness and brings it to his lips, a feather-light kiss on every knuckle, one last wordless gesture of apology before he closes his eyes.

All is still and quiet, a contented silence enveloping the room, until…

“So, make-up sex: do it now, or wait 'til tomorrow?”

_“Nora, go to sleep.”_


End file.
